International Conference of Mountain Children

For the inauguration we kept speeches to a minimum! Delegates from different places came wearing their traditional costumes and performed songs and dances from their native places. It gave us all the chance to learn more about one another.

Visit with the Governor

His Excellency, the Governor of Uttarakhand, Shri Surjit Singh Barnala had invited us all to tea, so after the inauguration, we quickly cleaned ourselves up and trooped over to Rajbhawan, his official residence. He listened to us with great attention and afterwards said that he really enjoyed our visit and hoped for more such meetings. He's also promised to sign all 63 of our diaries....

John's address to His Excellency:

Good evening Your Excellency, my young friends, and my elders. I would like to say a few words. First of all I would like to begin by thanking everyone at RACHNA for accepting that we, the children of India, do have a voice and thus providing us a platform to speak our minds. This, in itself is a giant step for all children.

I, myself, am very glad to get this opportunity to speak on behalf of all the young people of our country. As everyone knows, this is a young people's conference. Through a conference like this, young people can actually participate in life with adults, on an equal basis. It gives the young generation great confidence, especially since young people are generally considered immature.

If I may remind all big people, you were once a child too. It is only through education and experience that people grow into adulthood. Therefore children must be encouraged by parents, elders and teachers to participate and stand up for their right to a meaningful existence. As the saying goes, "Well begun is half done." We can all clearly see that having begun so well, in this positive direction, all our dreams are already half way to being realized....Long live children!